Discussion of the Prior Art
This invention relates to an antitumor agent.
Conventional antitumor agents are divided into chemotherapeutic agents which directly act on a tumor and immunopotentiators which potentiate immunity to bring about an antitumor effect.
Known immunopotentiators include muramyl dipeptide or a polysaccharide constituting microbial cells of tubercle bacillus, hemolytic streptococcus, etc., and the cell wall of these bacteria. However, none of them have achieved sufficient immunopotentiating activity when used alone.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel antitumor agent which has excellent antitumor activity based on immunopotentiation with reduced side effects and which can be prepared starting with a highly safe bacterium used in food production.